Abstract: Energy efficient independent temperature control is achieved in refrigerators by minimizing system run time. A freezer thermostat activates the refrigeration system when the freezer compartment requires cooling and a fresh food thermostat which controls a damper between the two compartments. The two thermostats are operatively connected so that the freezer thermostat is prevented from switching off whenever the fresh food thermostat calls for cooling in the fresh food compartment. Thus, only the freezer thermostat is able to activate the refrigeration system, while either of the thermostats can inactivate the system.

Abstract: A cooling system for a superconductive magnet. A cryocooler coldhead and a compressor are remotely located from the magnet. A helium-gas conduit circuit has five helium-gas paths. The first path extends from the compressor's outlet port to being in proximate thermal contact with the coldhead's first stage. The second path extends from there to being in proximate thermal contact with the coldhead's second stage. The third path extends from there to being in proximate thermal contact with the magnet's superconductive coil. The fourth path extends from there to being in proximate thermal contact with the magnet's thermal shield. The fifth helium-gas path extends from there to the compressor's inlet port.

Abstract: Induction heating is utilized to heat polymer matrix composites containing electrically conductive fibers. This is accomplished with an apparatus having a mold with first and second cores positioned to receive a workpiece therebetween and first and second induction coils mounted to the first and second cores, respectively. Each induction coil is encapsulated in a layer of non-electrically conductive material which is attached to a surface of the respective core. A thermal insulation layer is attached to each layer of material, and a skin layer is attached to each thermal insulation layer. Alternatively, the induction coils can be embedded in the corresponding mold core. In another alternative, a single helical induction coil can be disposed around the two mold cores.

Abstract: Lean direct injection is used in a gas turbine combustor to reduce NO.sub.x emissions. The combustor has a plurality of fuel jets for tangentially injecting fuel and a plurality of air jets for tangentially injecting air therein. The fuel jets and the air jets are preferably disposed in a common cross-sectional plane, although additional groups of fuel and air jets in other planes can be provided. The jets are all evenly spaced and alternate between fuel and air jets. All of the jets preferably point in the same circumferential direction. Alternatively, the jets can be arranged so that all fuel jets are located in a first cross-sectional plane, and all air jets are located in a second cross-sectional plane. Preferably, the fuel jets point in one circumferential direction while the air jets point in the opposite circumferential direction.

Abstract: A filament reactor for producing diamond using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. The reactor includes a closed reaction chamber with at least one gas inlet and at least one exhaust port, two substrates disposed in the reaction chamber, and a resistance heating device in the form of a plurality of filaments positioned between the substrates. A preheater unit is located adjacent to the gas inlet for heating the gas mixture entering the reaction chamber. By preheating the gas mixture, the temperature of the substrates and the concentration of the hydrocarbon species fluxes are kept relatively uniform, thus ensuring high quality diamonds of uniform thicknesses. The preheater unit can be a serpentine tube made of a metal having a high thermal conductivity and wrapped with a resistance heating element.

Abstract: A ratchet mechanism is provided which is adapted to convert the continuously oscillating rotation of a clothes washing machine agitator to periodic rotation in a single direction for a clothes washing machine auger. The mechanism comprises a cap and a cam disc, each configured such that they may be fabricated by a single-draw mold and wherein the cap comprises a plurality of reeds that either deflect around or mechanically catch on a plurality of cam teeth disposed on the cam disc dependent upon the direction of cam disc rotation such that the rotation of the cam disc is transmitted to the cap in only one direction wherein the transmission of the rotation does not depend solely on friction. The cap serves a further function of sealing the top of the auger and thereby preventing the ingress of matter associated with a clothes washing machine, such as water or detergent, into the ratchet mechanism.

Abstract: An adsorbent electrode assembly electrically enhances contaminant removal in soil washing processes. The adsorbent electrode assembly is immersed in the froth of a flotation cell and connected to one pole of a battery. The other pole of the battery is connected to the flotation cell tank. The resulting electric charge (either positive or negative depending on the nature of the contaminant) applied to the adsorbent electrode assembly attracts contaminants in the froth to the adsorbent electrode assembly which adsorbs them. The adsorbent electrode assembly is then easily removed from the cell for replacement or regeneration. The adsorbent electrode assembly can comprise one or more carbon rods, a carbon screen, or a porous bag filled with an adsorbent material and having an electrode disposed therein.

Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer having a transducer element which generates ultrasonic energy propagating along a transducer axis with a predetermined speed of propagation, and a lens acoustically coupled to the transducer element and having an input face positioned to receive the ultrasonic energy, wherein the lens includes electrorheological fluid with voltage dependent acoustic properties therein for enabling the speed of propagation to be selectively controlled as the ultrasonic energy passes through the lens. The transducer may include a focusing lens, a steering lens, or a combination thereof for selectively controlling the focusing and/or steering of the ultrasonic energy within a region of interest in an object to be inspected therewith. A voltage control device is used to controllably apply voltage to the lens to control the propagation speed as the ultrasonic energy passes therethrough.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided which may be adapted for use as a washing machine agitator which isolates an agitator drive unit from the peak torques exerted upon vanes of the agitator due to irregularities in the rotational oscillation of the agitator which would result from a typical washing machine transmission apparatus. The apparatus isolates the peak torques by providing an inner and an outer agitator post wherein the inner post attaches to the drive unit and the outer post has integrally formed to it agitator vanes and an agitator skirt, the apparatus further provides a flexible connecting means attaching the inner post to the outer post such that the resonant frequency of the outer post, the agitator vanes and the agitator skirt taken as a unit will be close to that of the agitator stroke rate. The flexible connecting means comprises a plurality of webs extending continuously along all or portion of the posts in an axial direction such that the apparatus may be formed by a single-draw mold.

Abstract: A slab module for a face-pumped laser includes a box frame having top and bottom walls and opposite end walls defining a central slab chamber therein. The end walls have central access holes for receiving opposite ends of a laser slab positionable in the slab chamber. The frame also includes opposite side pockets which join with the slab chamber. The pockets are configured for receiving laser pumping modules for pumping the laser slab, with the modules including diode laser arrays in an exemplary embodiment.

Abstract: Combustion-induced instabilities are minimized in gas turbine combustors with a plurality of flameholders disposed on the center hub of each fuel nozzle. The flameholders are streamlined bluffbodies oriented at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the center hub which roughly matches the swirl angle of the fuel nozzle swirl vanes. The flameholders have streamlined upstream faces and flat downstream faces. The flat faces are preferably flush with the bluff end of the center hub. The flameholders, which are equally spaced about the circumference of the center hub, preferably block about 30-50% of the annular cross-sectional area in each burner. Thus, an array of additional flame sheets is produced in each burner without destroying the swirl. These additional flame sheets effectively increase early fuel consumption so that heat release in the main combustion chamber is decreased, thereby reducing combustion instabilities.

Abstract: Energy efficient independent temperature control is achieved in refrigerators by minimizing evaporator fan on time. A circuit including a first switch responsive to a freezer thermostat and a second switch responsive to a fresh food thermostat controls operation of the refrigeration system and the evaporator fan. The first and second switches are connected so that the refrigeration system and the evaporator fan can be activated only when the freezer thermostat demands cooling. A fan interlock having one or more relays prevents the first switch from inactivating the evaporator fan if the fresh food thermostat demands cooling. Thus, the evaporator fan only runs while the refrigeration system is operating or has immediately shut off.

Abstract: A method for welding a plurality of stacked laminations includes positioning an edge of the laminations adjacent to a pulsed laser for receiving a pulsed laser beam at the kerf defined between adjacent laminations. The laser is operated to direct the pulsed laser beam at the kerf for melting the adjacent laminations to a predetermined maximum depth. The laser is controlled to limit heat input at the kerf for effecting a generally parabolic melting zone. The stacked laminations 10 are moved transversely edge-to-edge relative to the pulsed laser beam for repeating the pulsed welding at successive kerfs.

Abstract: A method of suppressing grain noise resulting from ultrasonic inspection of an object, including ultrasonically scanning an object and detecting waveform signals therefrom, determining, from the signals, data values which define a 3D waveform data set U(x,y,t) having both spatial (x,y) and temporal (t) ultrasonic data values from the scanned object, converting the 3D waveform data set into a 3D filtered waveform data set V(x,y,t) by performing a 3D filtering operation thereon, wherein for each data value in the 3D waveform data set U(x,y,t), a filtered data value is obtained by taking into account data values which are adjacent thereto both spatially and temporally, thereby reducing grain noise relative to flaw signals to enable a high probability of flaw detection and a low probability of false flaw indications.

Abstract: A method is provided for making a two-piece hollow airfoil having a complex geometry. Two metal sheets are formed into initial shapes so as to have a mean camber and twist. A series of raised ribs is machined onto the external side of each of the two sheets. The two sheets are joined together and sealed to form an in-process assembly. The assembly is subjected to high temperature and pressure to diffusion bond the sheets together at selected points. The assembly then subjected to internal pressure at high temperature in order to inflate and superplastically deform the assembly to the desired shape. Excess material is machined off after the inflation step.

Abstract: An atmospheric gas burner produces improved flame stability by establishing a higher pressure drop pilot flame at at least one burner port. The burner has a preferably recessed pilot port which is isolated from the primary burner ports. A small portion of the total fuel introduced to the burner is directly fed to the pilot port without entrained air. Consequently, the pilot port supports a high pressure drop diffusion pilot flame which is better able to withstand ambient disturbances. Then in the event that a momentary disturbance extinguishes the primary flames, the pilot flame will serve as a reignition source.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for generating Radon derivative data on locations proximate to a near uniformly spaced polar grid in a digitized Radon space for a cone beam computerized tomography (CT) implementation. Radon derivative data is determined for uniformly spaced coordinates in r, .theta. and .phi. directions.

Abstract: The output of a second sensor is matched to the output of a first sensor. The sensors, such as two microphones, are generally identically and simultaneously exposed to a physical quantity which they have been designed to sense. Their outputs are presented as digital outputs. The second sensor's digital output is numerically adaptively filtered using an adaptive filter having adaptive filtering coefficients. The filter's output is equal to the sum of the products of the second sensor's digital outputs and the associated adaptive filtering coefficients, with the sum taken over a predetermined number of sampling intervals. The adaptive filtering continues until the adaptive filtering coefficients are determined such that the filter's output matches the first sensor's digital output to within a predetermined value. Thereafter, the second sensor's digital output is filtered with fixed coefficients which are equal to the adaptively-determined coefficients.

Abstract: A system including a control circuit and a sensing circuit controls an expansion valve in a refrigeration system using pulse width modulation. The control circuit includes a ramp generator, a pulse width modulator, and a power switch. In response to input from the sensing circuit, the control circuit produces a control signal which cyclically opens and closes the valve. The average flow rate through the valve is varied in accordance with a condition of the refrigeration system which is detected by the sensing circuit.

Abstract: The present invention discloses an error log analysis system comprising a diagnostic unit and a training unit. The training unit includes a plurality of historical error logs generated during abnormal operation or failure from a plurality of machines, and the actual fixes (repair solutions) associated with the abnormal events or failures. A block finding unit identifies sections of each error log that are in common with sections of other historical error logs. The common sections are then labelled as blocks. Each block is then weighted with a numerical value that is indicative of its value in diagnosing a fault. In the diagnostic unit, new error logs associated with a device failure or abnormal operation are received and compared against the blocks of the historical error logs stored in the training unit.